Eight Things

Jackie tagged me for this meme. Quite awhile ago. Apparently, I'm supposed to tell you eight interesting things about myself. As long as we're all willing to play fast and loose with the definition of interesting, I'm game. :) Here we go:

(1) I despise the summer. If I could choose my own weather, it would never get above 70 degrees in the summer and would be blustery and cold and snow a lot during the winter. But the snow would never cause driving problems, because that only annoys me.

(2) The only exception to the above rule is the week that I'm at the beach each year. That week, it should be incessantly sunny and very hot. Hot enough that I have to spend a large portion of the day actually in the ocean just to ward off a heatstroke.

(3) I worked very hard for nearly a decade to obtain my PhD. And most of the time, I really love my field of research. But sometimes I wonder if I could go back to the beginning, knowing what I know now, whether I'd give up my career to instead have a family with 2.5 kids, a house, a Volvo, a dog, and a white picket fence. (You know, a family in the 50's, more or less). Sometimes I think I would. I feel like I inadvertently, or perhaps unconsciously, made a choice somewhere along the way not to have both a career and a family. And that makes me sad.

(4) I find that my tolerance for bullshit, arrogance, pretentiousness, and condescension has decreased dramatically as I've gotten older. I simply don't deal with with any variation of rude.

(5) My best friend threw me a 30th birthday party last year. It was the first time I'd really celebrated my birthday in 15 years.

(6) I'm completely creeped out by birds. Nearly terrified of them, even. I can usually hide my fear if I have to, but given the choice, I'd avoid contact with all avian life on a permanent basis.

(7) I had a southern accent up into high school. I don't remember exactly when I got rid of it, but I remember it being a very conscious decision.

(8) I cannot stand cilantro. It tastes like soap. I hear that this is a genetic thing, but all I care about is that it stays out of my food.

At this point, I should tag some people to do their own meme and this thing will continue to be passed along like the paper chain letters of yore. But I figure that if anyone who reads this wants to do their own, they'll just do it. I don't need to tag you. :)

I'm a Knitter

I promised Jackie pictures of some of my knitting projects eons ago. Especially since I have picked out most of the yarn and patterns with her! And I even posted about it not long ago. So here they are.

This newborn cardigan & hat set are a gift destined to be given as soon as I get my act together. The baby was born a few days ago, so hopefully I'll get it completely done tonight. All I have left to do is to block the sweater so it loses some of its lumpiness (and a possible slight asymmetry). But look at those buttons! I sewed them on all by myself!! (Jackie did sew up the sides for me last time I was there visiting; it kept looking funny every time I did it).




I also made the same cardigan a couple of sizes larger and (obviously) in a different color for another baby. This still needs its buttons sewn on and to be blocked as well. This taupe cardigan is going to be part of a gift set with a little chocolate brown baby bolero. A newborn shrug, if you will.


Obviously the shrug isn't nearly done. All of the lavender yarn is just temporarily holding stitches; the whole thing will be brown when I'm done. I have one arm sewn on (a herculean feat for me!) and am very proud of the fact that I didn't call Jackie once for cross-country hand holding on that part! It took a lot of concentration, though, and I am not afraid to admit that I had some harsh words for the yarn when it kept knotting itself as I sewed. When it's all done, along the bottom & front edges there will be a ribbing pattern similar to what you may (or may not) be able to see on the end of the sleeves. I also love that in the back of the bolero is a little eyelet pattern. If I recall what the pattern says correctly, it's a Celtic symbol (?) meant to bring good luck & health to the wearer. At any rate, the baby destined for the bolero is going to be one fashionable kid. How many newborns have a trendy little shrug to wear to their first social engagements? :)

I'm also working on my first real toddler-sized sweater. The cardigans are pretty easy to make but this sweater intimidated me at first. I'm pleasantly surprised with how it's turning out!



It still needs arms, obviously. And the green yarn is just holding the arm-intended stitches. I actually need to go buy new needles to make those; I thought I had the right size, but I don't. I'm hoping that it will be done soon. This project actually has no intended recipient, though. I think the purple yarn makes it look pretty girly (though the unintended gathering on the arm stitch holders right now may be skewing my opinion), so I'll probably just give it to whomever is the right size at the right time of year.

Mal? Really?

After reading about this on both The Historian's and Heather's blogs, I decided to take this little quiz for myself. I like Firefly relatively well, so why not? I have to say, I'm a little surprised to find out that I have so much Malcolm Reynolds in me. Kaylee and Simon I can understand. Malcolm? I would not have thought that. I suppose it's nice to know that I am "generally good." I would definitely protect my crew from harm. I know that much.

My results:
You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)


Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and would protect your crew from harm.

Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)		90%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)		90%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)		90%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)		80%
Inara Serra (Companion)		65%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)		60%
River (Stowaway)		55%
Wash (Ship Pilot)		40%
Alliance		40%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)		35%
A Reaver (Cannibal)		0%

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test


I wonder what set of responses I would had to contrive to end up being mostly Reaver.... (For the record, I answered the rather direct "Are you a cannibal?" question in the negative. That probably did me in on potentially being a Reaver.)

Long Time No...Post?

Hello friendly readers! It's clearly been a while. I have had very mixed feelings about maintaining my blog for the last several months, hence the dearth of posts. I still am not sure about it, but for the moment I'm here. My temporary job is going relatively well. I generally enjoy what I'm working on and I'm even able to do a bit of research of my own! I've taken on a second project which will keep me employed through the end of the calendar year. In the meantime, I'm working on figuring out what I want to do. In a lot of ways, I'm very conflicted about my career (or lack thereof). I still find it very odd that I'm now Dr. Meredith; I'm rather unsure what to do with myself!

As Jackie can attest, I've been working on a boatload of new knitting since I finished school. I don't have any pictures of recent work at the moment, but hopefully I can take some in the next few days to show off. I've been getting a little more ambitious with my recent projects. I've branched out from making only blankets and scarves and I now have learned how to make things that are not rectangular shaped! Woo! I found a pattern for a baby cardigan that I really like and have made two in quick succession. I'm about halfway through a toddler pullover sweater, too. (It currently has no arms, but the body is done at least). I have even made one legwarmer! I've been rather productive in my newfound spare time.

Also in my free time, I've returned to my roots as a news junkie. :) In the New York Times yesterday, I read about this: scientists have isolated proteins from a Tyrannosaurus rex. Seriously! It's pretty darn awesome, in my opinion. Let's just all agree not to try to clone any dinosaurs, m'k? That cannot possibly end well.

Temporary Job is Better than No Job

I am extraordinarily thankful this morning to have received a temporary job offer here at the university for the next 6 months. I have job applications out elsewhere, but have yet to hear anything back from any of them so I've been staring impending joblessness dead in the face since I defended. (I had managed to pretty much ignore it while writing, other than to submit a few applications). I have little to no idea what I'll actually be doing in this position, though I know that it won't just be be a continuation of my present research. And for that, I am grateful as well! I think a change of direction right now would do me a world of good. So today is a good day. I am going to be employed, and I am grateful.

A Holiday Meme

Jenni tagged me for a meme, and for once I am on the ball. Here it is:

1.Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. I used to like egg nog a lot, but I think too much about what's in it now. And it kind of skeeves me out. Though I will still probably drink a little bit of the store-bought kind if my Dad buys it.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Definitely wrapped. They were always in different wrapping paper from the others and had different handwriting on the labels. My parents always gave us one gift; Santa brought the rest.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? On the tree, it depends on the ornaments. On a tree I would do for my house, I'd probably put white lights and matching ornaments. Maybe some ribbon. But on my parents' tree at home, it's a free for all. All of the ornaments my siblings and I made as kids and all the ones my Mom made during her super-crafty years are joined by all the other ornaments purchased over the years. I think the lights that end up on the tree are whichever ones my Dad comes across first, either colored or white. In recent years my siblings and I have taken to switching the lights to the different patterns (blinking, etc.) while my Dad's not looking because it makes him a little crazy. He hates it, and it's funny to see him get a bit worked up over the Christmas tree lights. My parents have never put lights on the house, though they recently bought those netted lights that Dad tosses (somewhat willy nilly) over the bushes in the front yard. He also acquired a lighted reindeer that now sits in the front yard slowly turning its head back and forth. I won't comment further on those "decorations".

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No. I don't think I could identify mistletoe, even if it were labeled.

5. When do you put your decorations up? It would never be before Thanksgiving, I know that much. But sadly, I usually don't decorate my own apartment. In years past it's been the case that I was leaving to go home mid-December and it wasn't worth the effort to decorate for only 10 days or something. But even this year, when I'm still not sure when I'm going home yet, I haven't decorated. It just seems a little silly and unnecessary for one person. I did buy a little, real tree one time several years ago, though, and it certainly smelled good. It was very cute in the corner of my apartment.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? There's a casserole that my Grandma made many years ago for Christmas that sounds really gross, but is actually freakishly good. It's pineapple casserole with cheese and breadcrumbs. I have no idea where she got the recipe, but we loved it and my Mom has continued to make it ever since. We're stunned every year that we like it because on paper? Kind of gross.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: My birthday is 3 days before Christmas. For my 5th birthday party, my Mom hired a guy (turned out to be a college kid, I learned later) to dress up as Santa Claus and come to my party. We were in the middle of the party (eating cake) when the front doorbell rang. I raced to the door, opened it up, and Santa was standing there in all his Santa glory. He had come down from the North Pole just before Christmas for my birthday party. And he brought little gifts for everyone! I felt like the most special kid in the world. So it's not exactly a Christmas memory, but it's close enough.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My mom told me! It was in a "you know he's not real, right?" context, but up until that point I was still holding out some hope that it might be true. I guess I was probably 10 or so, so I should have known. (About 10 minutes after the Santa conversation, I also had her confirm explicitly that the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny also fell in the Lies My Parents Told Me category).

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope. There is no gift-giving love on Christmas Eve in our house. Most of the presents don't even come out until late Christmas Eve night, even now!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? If I did my own, it would be very neat and tidy. Very Martha Stewart-ish. Though I love our tree at home, too, because it has literally 30 years of ornaments on it. If I ever have kids, I'll definitely do a tree like that with the same homemade ornaments to bring out year after year.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it. It rarely snowed where I grew up, but it did once on my birthday. I don't remember if it lasted until Christmas, but I do associate Christmas that year with snow so maybe it did.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes. I love it.

13. Favorite Holiday movie: The old school Rudolph. With the animatronic, fuzzy, claymation characters. I love it every year.

14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? My mom makes tiny pecan pies that I love. I don't really like pecans all that much, but something about the tiny nature of the pie makes it just perfect.

15. What is a favorite holiday tradition? We go to Mass on Christmas Eve. And every year, Mom says that we have to get there 45 minutes early because Church will fill up quickly. And every year, someone in the house is running late. So we inevitably get there only about 20 minutes early and have to look for seats in odd places. Some years we manage to find a pew off on a corner, some years we're on the overflow chairs set up in the back of the Church. A couple of years ago we were even on chairs on the side of the altar, literally in front of everyone. It's always chaos, but it's almost tradition at this point. And it's almost the only time all year that my whole family is together at Mass. Despite any lingering whining about tardiness on the way to Church, I enjoy it. We still go to the same Church my siblings and I grew up in, so there's a sense of familiarity about it that makes me genuinely happy.

16. What tops your tree? My parents used to have a lovely angel that went on the tree for many years. Something happened to the angel a few years ago, though, and now it's a really terribly gold star. It looks very odd. I always think I'm just going to take it off just to put it out of its misery, but I never do.

17. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving. Definitely. I get so excited about seeing people open my gifts! (But looking back, I gave my parents some HORRIBLE gifts when I was young!)

18. What is your favorite Christmas Song? The First Noel.

19. Candy Canes? Love 'em. But only the peppermint kind. The fruity ones are a little bit nasty.

So now I have to pass it on. I'll tag Jackie, Pigs, and Eddie. Happy holidays! :)

Friends

I have the most outstanding, amazing, supportive friends ever. Whenever I feel down, I just remind myself of how lucky I am to be surrounded by such great people. It perks me right up. Whether near or far, we can always pick up right where we left off last time we were together.

I'm headed to California tomorrow to visit a couple of these fantastic friends for Thanksgiving and I'm very excited about it. I haven't seen them since June and we've all had some very stressful months in the interim, so I'm hopeful that we can all sit back and relax for a couple of days and just enjoy each other's company. That to me is the perfect holiday.

So happy Thanksgiving to all of my wonderful friends out there! May you all be surrounded by friends and family and happiness this weekend. :)